Texas State University System Has $10,000 Degree Plan

The Texas State University System is the state's third major university system to announce the development of a bachelor's degree that only costs $10,000 — a response to Gov. Rick Perry's 2011 call for more affordable higher education offerings.

Sul Ross State University Rio Grande College, an upper-division college in the Texas State University System, has partnered with Southwest Texas Junior College to create a new "10K Scholars Program." Its degree model, which will become available in fall 2013, appears to be something of a hybrid of the previous two models introduced in the state.

Texas A&M University-San Antonio partnered with Alamo Colleges to offer a bachelor’s of applied arts and sciences in information technology with an emphasis on computer security. In order to keep costs down, students must earn an associate's degree while still in high school and then take advantage of the lower costs at one of the Alamo community colleges before proceeding to A&M-San Antonio. At the University of Texas-Permian Basin, a $10,000 degree can be earned entirely at the institution for students who qualify for the new Texas Science Scholar program, essentially providing them a merit scholarship that caps their tuition.

In the Texas State model, the opportunity is available to high school students who graduate with at least a 2.5 GPA and at least 30 hours of college credit completed. Students then spend a year at the junior college before completing their degrees at Sul Ross State University Rio Grande College. The total cost would be capped at $10,000 through deferred scholarships — worth $2,122 — that students earn provided they maintain at least a 3.0 GPA and take 15 hours of classes each semester, allowing them to graduate in three years.

If they meet all those criteria and follow the prescribed path, students can graduate with a $10,000 bachelor’s degree in biology, chemistry or mathematics.

“Sul Ross Rio Grande College and Southwest Texas Junior College have worked together for many years to provide thousands of students with the opportunity to earn high-quality, affordable college degrees,” Texas State University System Chancellor Brian McCall said in a statement. “The ‘10K Scholars Program’ continues this tradition and rewards students who complete their degrees in a timely manner.”

Texas is experimenting with an initiative to help students and families struggling with sky-high college costs: a bachelor's degree for $10,000, including tuition fees and even textbooks. Under a plan he unveiled in 2011, Republican Gov. Rick Perry has called on institutions in his state to develop options for low-cost undergraduate degrees. The idea was greeted with skepticism at first, but lately, it seems to be gaining traction. If it yields success, it could prompt other states to explore similar, more-innovative ways to cut the cost of education.

Limiting the price tag for a degree to $10,000 is no easy feat. In the 2012-13 academic year, the average annual cost of tuition in Texas at a public four-year institution was $8,354, just slightly lower than the national average of $8,655. The high costs are saddling students with huge debt burdens. Nationally, 57 percent of students who earned bachelor’s degrees in 2011 from public four-year colleges graduated with debt, and the average debt per borrower was $23,800—up from $20,100 a decade earlier. By Sept. 30, 2011, 9.1 percent of borrowers who entered repayment in 2009-10 defaulted on their federal student loans, the highest default rate since 1996.

msuNtx saidGreat Idea. Only will work at schools nobody wants to go to.

It depends entirely on employer acceptance... Higher ed is an entire industry that is changing radically.

You have companies like teamtreehouse.com that are focused on delivering and certifying skills that are being recognized by some of the top tech firms looking to hire developers, and then on the upper end of the spectrum, you have firms like MIT who have already put out a number of courses online available for free but are looking to find ways of certifying that people have taken these courses and have retained their content.

The biggest losers are smaller colleges without that brand recognition who will now have to compete with a lot more, better funded and far more recognized schools.

"In order to keep costs down, students must earn an associate's degree while still in high school and then take advantage of the lower costs at one of the Alamo community colleges before proceeding to A&M-San Antonio."

So I see, pass the cost of half of the college education on to the high schools? Is the additional cost to the schools calculated in the $10,000 degree total cost? I'm guessing not, but how will this be paid for? And if annual tuition at a public Texas 4 year university is $8,354, how can the total cost of the education be kept to $10,000 even if the student ultimately attends only one year at the 4 year school? (And what about the costs of room and board and books?) Anyway, if this education can be pulled off for just a $10,000 cost to the student, it appears much of the cost is still borne by the taxpayers. Which I don't have a problem with given the importance of education to our society, but don't some people in this forum have a problem with socialized education?

sfbayguy said"In order to keep costs down, students must earn an associate's degree while still in high school and then take advantage of the lower costs at one of the Alamo community colleges before proceeding to A&M-San Antonio."

So I see, pass the cost of half of the college education on to the high schools? Is the additional cost to the schools calculated in the $10,000 degree total cost? I'm guessing not, but how will this be paid for? And if annual tuition at a public Texas 4 year university is $8,354, how can the total cost of the education be kept to $10,000 even if the student ultimately attends only one year at the 4 year school? (And what about the costs of room and board and books?) Anyway, if this education can be pulled off for just a $10,000 cost to the student, it appears much of the cost is still borne by the taxpayers. Which I don't have a problem with given the importance of education to our society, but don't some people in this forum have a problem with socialized education?

Well it doesn't really come off as more expensive. The kids have to take the classes in high school. It will be dual-credit courses which can be taught by high school teachers that are certified through the local community college.

sfbayguy said"In order to keep costs down, students must earn an associate's degree while still in high school and then take advantage of the lower costs at one of the Alamo community colleges before proceeding to A&M-San Antonio."

So I see, pass the cost of half of the college education on to the high schools? Is the additional cost to the schools calculated in the $10,000 degree total cost? I'm guessing not, but how will this be paid for? And if annual tuition at a public Texas 4 year university is $8,354, how can the total cost of the education be kept to $10,000 even if the student ultimately attends only one year at the 4 year school? (And what about the costs of room and board and books?) Anyway, if this education can be pulled off for just a $10,000 cost to the student, it appears much of the cost is still borne by the taxpayers. Which I don't have a problem with given the importance of education to our society, but don't some people in this forum have a problem with socialized education?

Well it doesn't really come off as more expensive. The kids have to take the classes in high school. It will be dual-credit courses which can be taught by high school teachers that are certified through the local community college.

But offering more courses in addition to the regular high school curriculum still increases costs to the high school.